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Is Melania Trump at high-risk of COVID-19? First lady may have 'pre-existing conditions' from kidney surgery

The first lady took a leave of absence of nearly 25 days following her operation on May 14 last year

While its no surprise that President Donald Trump is being categorized as a high-risk COVID-19 patient due to his advanced age and weight after it was revealed that he and his wife tested positive on Friday, October 2, people have started to wonder if Melania Trump also is also at an increased risk due to the disease since she underwent kidney surgery last year. 

Following the diagnosis, Melania confirmed on Twitter, "As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together." 

We previously reported that the first lady took a leave of absence of nearly 25 days following her operation on May 14 last year causing social media to fly into a frenzy asking "Where is Melania Trump?" Following the long hiatus, the FLOTUS attended a reception for Gold Star military families at the White House on June 4 which marked her first appearance since May 10. The event was totally closed off to the press so there were no photographs of the first lady from the event which she attended after a long time. According to a Hollywood Life report at the time, the 50-year-old first lady took the time off to focus on her health as well as work toward bettering her marriage to the 74-year-old POTUS after rumors started swirling of a marital breakdown. 

“Melania has been taking a little ‘me time’ to work on fully regaining her health, and to try and strengthen her marriage again. It’s been a hideously stressful past few months, and Melania needs a break out of the media glare to recharge her batteries and take stock," a source quoted at the time. 

As soon as Melania's COVID-19 diagnosis was made public, many people were reminded of her surgery and they wondered if the medical procedure increased her chances of becoming a high-risk COVID-19 patient. "I am still kinda in shock, honestly. but he is like a cockroach so he will likely be fine. Melania has kidney issues, she may not fair well with this," one said, while another wrote, "Melania has 'kidney' issues. Pre-existing condition?" One user commented, "Melania is also high risk... she has some kind of kidney illness." There was another who remarked, "Doesn't Melania have a kidney condition? That man walked around so delusional and convinced about #coronavirus that he risked the health of his own family. So ridiculous."

And that was not the end of the concern people showed for the first lady. "I’m concerned not enough attention is being given Melania’s kidney problems!" another one of them quipped while one more chimed in with, "Well, supposedly Melania received a kidney transplant, which means she on aggressive anti-rejection medications and she’s extremely susceptible. If it’s real, we’re going see. It’s going to be hard to fake that recovery." A user wrote, "I wonder how much Melania's pre-existing kidney issues factors in here." Another said, "I'm just concerned about Melania's elevated risk due to her kidney issues." Someone else tweeted, "I wonder if that kidney problem Melania was hospitalized so many days for is a concern with covid?"